


Little Penguin - Reigisa

by NoSoundAllEcho



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 1950-01-01
Updated: 1950-01-01
Packaged: 2018-10-02 01:29:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10205816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoSoundAllEcho/pseuds/NoSoundAllEcho
Summary: Rei and Nagisa are awkward, Makoto has a plan, Haru blurts it out early.





	1. Chapter 1

“But Reeeeeeeeiiiiii-chaaaaaaaaannn!” Nagisa whined as I told him for what felt like the thousandth time that he most definitely could not get a cat for Christmas.  
“You’re allergic Nagisa-kun. Don’t you remember what happened when Makoto-senpai kept coming to school covered in cat fur.” I countered reminding him of the months of puffy eyes and tears from my blond friend.  
“But cats are adorable!” He whined once more.  
“You’re more adorable.” The words slipped from my mouth before I could even realize what I was saying.  
“W-what?” Nagisa whispered taking a step away from me nearly falling into the pool. “N-nothing!” I squeaked a blush spreading across my cheeks.  
“Hey guys, you free next weekend?” Makoto asked suddenly appearing in the door to the locker room. Thank merlin for Makoto.  
“Oh, u-um yeah.” I mumbled trying not to let him see the blush that refused to leave my cheeks.  
“S-sure.” Nagisa stuttered out clearly flushed.  
“Great I was scared it would just be Haru and I.” Makoto grinned looking like he just won the lottery.  
“Haru and me, Makoto-senpai, not Haru and I.” I corrected him quickly without even thinking about it. He rolled his eyes and turned around waving for us to follow him, so of course being the idiots we are we did. Soon we were outside Haru’s house and I was pretty sure Makoto was turning into a lobster.  
“Wait here I have to go get Haru.” Makoto smiled before going inside.  
“Isn’t that breaking and entering?” Nagisa questioned tilting his head to the side.  
“Nah, the door wasn’t locked.” I decided to say something completely out of character. Soon Makoto appeared in the window using his hands as he clearly bribed Haru.  
“Yep Mako-chan definitely likes Haru-chan.” Nagisa stated chuckling softly. I laughed looking into his adorable burgundy eyes.  
“I’m pretty sure Makoto-senpai would die for him.” I smiled at the thought of those idiots finally realizing it wouldn’t be one-sided. I wonder if Nagisa realizes I’d die for him. Probably not, I’ve always been pretty bad at showing my emotions. Suddenly a song came to mind. “I’d die for you, that’s easy to say, we all have a list of people we’d take, a bullet for them, a bullet for you, a bullet for everybody in this room, but I don’t seem to see many bullets coming through.” I sang softly under my breath.  
Nagisa chuckled shaking his head. “Whatever Rei-chan.” He laughed smiling slightly. Gosh he’s adorable. But I have no hope, not with someone as amazing as him. Soon Makoto walked out with Haru following close behind.  
“How’d he bribe you into coming this time?” I questioned Haru out of sole curiosity.  
He replied completely emotionless, “He reminded me he had a pool.” Those weirdoes. Soon we made it to Makoto’s place, well it was only about twenty feet from Haru’s so. “So, why are we at your place Makoto-senpai?” I asked in confusion fixing my glasses that had decided my nose wasn’t a great place to stay.  
“Because, we need to practice and I’m the only one with a pool.” Makoto stated almost deathly calm. Makoto opened the door to his house and called out. “I’m home! I brought the guys over for practice, okay?”  
Soon two small kids ran up. The girl squealed, “You have friends?” And then threw her entire body at Makoto’s legs.  
“Yup, somehow I managed to get these losers to be my friends.” Makoto laughed ruffling the girl’s hair before working at prying her away from his legs.  
“You used a plural idiot I only see one friend.” She stated pursing her lips as if saying ‘were you raised in a barn Makoto?’  
“What do you mean?” Makoto asked running a hand through his hair.  
“That one,” She pointed directly at me. “is the only friend of yours I see. The rest of these are your family bird brain.” She grinned finally allowing Makoto to pull her from his leg.  
“If you’re going to go by that then I don’t have any friends over, only my family.” Makoto smiled picking her up and adding “So hah.” It was our turn to roll our eyes. We followed Makoto inside and then right back out through the back door. Instead of making any move towards his pool he simply sat down and patted the spot on the ground next to him.  
Soon we were all sitting in a circle and I decided to speak up. “Why are we really here Makoto-senpai?” I asked cautiously eyeing the burgundy eyed boy who seemed to have completely forgotten our earlier stupor.  
“Well,” Makoto started trailing off for a moment. “Haru and me have decided you two are completely oblivious and if someone doesn’t intervene something will go horribly wrong.” He finished clearly trying to tell me ‘hah I do know proper English.’  
“That time it was Haru and I, Makoto-senpai.” I corrected him despite being confused as to what he meant by oblivious.  
“Whatever. Anyways Haru and I have come to the conclusion that you two needed an intervention. By the way Gou, Miss. A, Coach, Rin, and Nitori are all here as well.” As he spoke they all hopped out of hiding places as their names were spoken. We wound out sitting in the world’s biggest circle on the grass behind Makoto’s house. Haru was sitting next to Makoto, who was sitting next to Miss. A, who was sitting next to Coach, who was next to me, I was next to Gou, who was next to Nagisa, who was next to Rin, who had Nitori on his lap. “Now you two.” Makoto pointed directly at me and Nagisa. “Need to realize-” Makoto was cut off by Haru.  
“You two like each other, stop dancing around each other before one of us pushes you two together.” I’m pretty sure that outburst wasn’t part of the plan, because Nagisa and I weren’t the only one’s gaping. Makoto lightly hit Haru’s shoulder.  
“Haru! We were supposed to ease them into it, not be that blunt.” I was pretty sure I looked like a tomato at this point. I turned to look at Nagisa to find him looking down almost as though he were, crying.  
“N-nagisa-kun?” I whispered softly looking down at the other boy. He looked up and the tears that coated his cheeks broke my heart.  
“I-I’m s-sorry R-rei-ch-chan.” He mumbled through sniffles. I could feel my heart shattering in my chest, but I needed to be strong, Nagisa needed me and I’ll be damned if I can’t be there for him.  
“Hey, hey. Nagisa-kun, come here, it’s okay.” I said softly pulling the smaller boy into my arms. He let out a sob burying his face in my shoulder mumbling sorry over and over again.  
“I-I didn’t m-mean f-for him t-to te-ell yo-ou.” He choked out before burying his face in my shoulder once more.  
“Wh-what do you mean?” I asked choking on the lump in my throat as I spoke. He looked up with sadness in his eyes.  
“Th-that I l-like yo-ou.” He said through hiccups before looking down as though ashamed.  
“N-nagisa-kun I, umm well, I like you too.” I mumbled scared this was all some sick joke and Nagisa would hop up with a grin on his face and say ‘Just kidding!’ Instead he looked up and gasped.  
“R-really!” He sounded so excited, it was adorable.  
“Y-yeah.” I whispered looking down unable to help the sheepish grin spreading across my lips. He looked up at me with a wide grin, his burgundy eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. He slammed his lips against mine with such force I almost fell backwards. I gently kissed back wrapping my arms around his waist pulling him as close to me as possible. He pulled away with a wide grin spread across his cheeks and let out a cheerful laugh. He buried his face in my neck and clutched to my body like it was his life line. I smiled lightly looking down at the small boy in my arms. He was so perfect.

And then I woke up. Realization dawned on me and I remembered that it was all just a dream. No a nightmare. The same nightmare I had every night. I would never wake up with the small burgundy eyed boy curled up against my chest. I would never hear him laugh at my shitty jokes. I would never see his eyes light up as he talked about penguins. After all it’s not like Nagisa Hazuki really exists.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you guys hate me yet?


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rei speaks with his psychiatrist, will she believe him about Nagisa? Or will she brush him off like everyone else?

Here goes, another day with my psychiatrist trying to convince her I’m not crazy. I mean it’s just a dream. A hyper-realistic, recurring dream that focuses on someone that doesn’t exist, sure. But just a dream. I scoured the building like always, despite knowing I wouldn’t find a sign of him, of Nagisa. Like usual my search came up empty, not even a glimpse of his honey blond hair, or his warm burgundy eyes. I was better off pretending I didn’t have the dreams, at least that’s what my psychiatrist says. But what does she know? I mean, how could a simple dream feel so real? I looked around, surprised to find that I was almost in front of the building. “That’s odd, I don’t remember getting out of the car.” I mumbled looking around in confusion.

“You need help getting somewhere young man?” Came a voice behind me. I turned to see the receptionist that’s on duty in the morning.

“No thank you Ayasa-Sama, I’m fine. Just trying to remember if I left the stove on.” I answered, hoping he wouldn’t catch the obvious lie. I don’t even *have* a stove.

“Well if you’re sure everything’s fine Ryugasaki-San. I must be going, it’s my niece’s birthday and I can’t miss that now can I.” Ayasa Mio said with a grin. He promptly turned on his heel and left me alone in the deserted parking lot. I wandered inside, quiet as usual, and signed in at the receptionist’s desk.

“Oh, hello Ryugasaki-San.” The young woman in charge of afternoon shift smiled as she checked over the schedule.

“Good evening Misaki-Sama.” I replied politely, smiling back.

“Kyoto-Sama is already waiting for you, so you can head straight in.” Misaki Anne said, waving me through to Kyoto Kaori’s office. I nodded politely and walked towards Kyoto-Sama’s office.

“Ryugasaki, come in.” I heard Kyoto-Sama’s voice through the open doorway. I walked in, quietly taking my seat opposite of Kyoto-Sama. “Good evening Ryugasaki. Have the dreams kept up, about the Hazuki boy?” I gulped.

“Good evening Kyoto-Sama. I’m afraid they have.” I said, attempting to hold my polite aura.

“Well, would you care to elaborate? Tell me about each dream Ryugasaki, and don’t leave anything out.” Memories swirled around me as she spoke each daring me to pick it. I started with the most recent dream, detailing each word, each memory, with care. She nodded politely when I finished speaking. “Where there any other’s in the past few days Ryugasaki?” Her voice was calm, collected, emotionless. It was as though she had no regard for how I felt in this matter, only caring to appear polite. I could practically see the memories surrounding me. I reached out, plucking a memory from the air. I could feel it in my hand, warm to the touch, it felt like him...


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dream sequence?? Me??? Never!!!

Nagisa looked up at me a confused look in his eyes. “Rei? Is everything okay?” He asked gently placing a hand on my thigh.

“I’m fine Little Penguin. Just nervous, it’s not every day you get to witness something like this.” I replied placing my hand on top of his. “Those two are really something, I’ve never seen Haruka happy without Makoto around. They really bring out the best in each other.”

“Yeah, they really do. I’m glad they finally realized they liked each other.” Nagisa chuckled and took a quiet sip from his cocoa.

“Nagisa, Rei, it’s good to see you two!” Makoto said in pure excitement. “It’s been too long since we’ve all been able to get together.”

“It’s too bad Rin and Aii couldn’t be here, I really miss those guys.” Nagisa pouted as he spoke. He swirled his cocoa watching the patterns it made as it swirled around.

“I’m sure if they could they would have come, but they’re still in Australia. Don’t worry too much Nagisa, they’ll be back next week and we can all /really/ get together.” I said with a smile. I ruffled his hair and motioned for Makoto to sit down.

“Hey guys sorry I’m late.” I heard Haru speak, his voice soft and rhythmic, like he’d practiced this. Honestly, knowing Haruka he probably had. Haru sat down next to Makoto and they cuddled while they waited for their drinks. We all talked and got caught up with each other while we all finished our drinks. Soon Haru was speaking once more. “Makoto I’ve known you for as long as I can remember. In fact one of my first memories is of us playing together as kids. Throughout all of this time we’ve been through a lot and most people were surprised we stuck together, but honestly Makoto I stick to you like glue. You’ve been my safe place, a way for me to be comfortable, but you’ve also been able to pull me out of my comfort zone, you know how to get me off the ground. For a long time there I started questioning whether I was really useful as a human being and you showed me that I was, that I truly mattered, and I can never repay you for that. Any time I think back to my happiest moments you’re there beside me, and when I think back to when I was sad you were always there to help lift me up off of the ground. Thank you Makoto for being there for me, today I’m promising to start being there for you more often. I’ve neglected you, and I shouldn’t have. I’ve been worried about others when you’re the one who needed me. I’m sorry for that. Makoto I love you, more than life itself. I love you more than any worldly desire, more than swimming, or mackerel, or anything else. You mean the world to me Makoto and today I intend to show it. If you told me I’d be doing this ten years ago I’d laugh, I never thought I’d be able to build up the courage. Then again, I never thought I’d be courageous enough to ask you out in the first place. Today I ask you the biggest question I have. Makoto Tachibana, will you marry me?” Haruka’s voice rang through our ears. He had the most hopeful look in his eyes, no the most loving look. It was like Makoto was the only thing Haruka saw. Makoto on the other hand looked like he was about to cry, a grin spread across his cheeks as whispered his answer.

“Yes, yes of course. Haru of course I’ll marry you. Gods I love you so much.” Makoto’s voice rang out in the café before he planted his lips on Haruka’s. A chorus of people in the café cooed and a few people whispered about how cute my friends were. The café around me began to swirl, mixing together and disappearing. Once more I was left hopeless in Kyoto-Sama’s office.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Y'know I was gonna write more to this, but honestly I couldn't wait to test if I could set the publication date way in the past. Anywho we're almost to my favorite point, just a few more chapters and Rei will regain a small fragment of his sanity, I almost feel bad for taking his sanity and tearing it apart with strange dreams and the utter removal of Nagisa.

“These dreams have certainly been going on for a while Ryugasaki” Kyoto-Sama’s voice was a harsh reminder of my reality, a harsh reminder that Nagisa wasn’t by my side or even real. “I know you have grown to care for the Hazuki boy but it may be best for you to try to forget him. Remembering him so fondly may only cause these dreams to continue or frequent.” She wants me to forget him? How could I ever forget him…

 

“I mean no offense mam but-” Her voice cut mine off before I could finish and says what I intended.

 

“You would rather deal with the dreams than forget him.” She’s right, I don’t know why but forgetting Nagisa feels like the worst thing I could ever do, like torture. He wasn’t even real but he felt like everything to me. I don’t think I could forget him, even if I tried.

 

“I’m truly sorry Kyoto-Sama, I just can’t bring myself to pretend I’m unaffected by this, by him.” I knew she wouldn’t like my answer, we had always been so similar but when it came to Nagisa we were ever so different. She thought I should forget him, thought he was an unnecessary blockade in my life; I couldn’t handle the thought of forgetting him, he was everything to me, and he didn’t even exist. We sat for a moment, not really looking at each other, looking just past reality. I was wondering the past while she navigated the future, separated in the same place at drastically different times. A small jingle came from her phone and knocked us both back into the present and she spoke softly as she stood from her place at the desk.

 

“Well Ryugasaki that seems to be all the time we have today. Give my regards to Matsuoka. I’ll be around for the banquet tomorrow; will I see you there?” Her demeanor changed so suddenly going from the harsh persona of my therapist to the gentle one of my childhood friend, sometimes during these meetings I almost forget that we went to the same school as kids, that we knew each other at all.

 

“Yes, you probably will. See you tomorrow then.” I waved to her as I moved to exit her office, wondering how recounting my dreams was supposed to help me at all. So I left, I left her office, I left the building, I left the city. Then I returned, I returned to my city, I returned to my building, I returned to my room. Life was trying and tiring and frankly full of shit, I’d only gotten up a few hours prior but the minute I got home I returned to sleep, I didn’t want to deal with life today. I didn’t want to deal with anything today.

**Author's Note:**

> Do you guys hate me yet?


End file.
